


Their Spiral Text

by wisdomeagle



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Bookstores, Community: femslash_minis, F/F, Fangirls, Geek Love, Post-Chosen, dark and cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-03
Updated: 2005-12-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4696034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisdomeagle/pseuds/wisdomeagle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is one thing that hasn't changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Their Spiral Text

**Author's Note:**

> For sappho_wilde, in the Fred round at femslash_minis. She requested dorky Harry Potter talk, geeky magic-science bookness, and a sweet kiss, sans death or smut. Set sometime in 2005, so post-"Chosen" and season 5 of Angel is AU'd away. Spoilers for "Home," "Chosen," and (vague) for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Content notes: darkish!Willow and brief mention of self-injurious behavior.

The fourth time they meet up is in a quiet bookshop in England, where Willow still feels out of place despite having owned the shop for six months. She's been selling books and hiding from the neo-watchers, who, now that the dust has settled, are actually just as stuffy as the old Council, with additional bonus inside knowledge of Willow's psyche that makes everyone painfully aware she doesn't belong among them. They had an uneasy truce until London Bridge happened; now Willow's reasonably sure the Slayers have orders to use any means necessary to subdue her. But the water under that bridge has flowed right out of Willow's short-term memory by the time Fred comes to town.

She's sitting behind the counter, feet propped up, a thick and dusty book of riddles in her lap. She's searching for meaning in the paradoxes, some hint that will help her decipher the text, but little sparks of magical energy keep leaping from the page, making it almost impossible to concentrate.

"Hey." Willow looks up, grumpy. She doesn't like to be disturbed in the middle of a project, and the voice is American: clearly, a tourist or else one of the former Scoobies ready to rat her out to Giles. But it's not, of course. It's Fred. "Can you help me get a book down from that top shelf?"

" _Fred_! Hi!"

"Hi..."

Willow's not grouchy anymore. She can hardly remember why she was grouchy; Fred's confused grin is consuming all her thoughts. "It's Willow! Remember? My hair used to be redder, but I got it dyed. Awesome, huh?"

"It's... different. Tonks-y."

Willow laughs. "Can you believe the last time we saw each other, we hadn't even met Tonks? And now she's dating Lupin! It's so exciting. Yes, the purple's in her honor... that, and I needed a disguise. But enough about me! What are you doing in merry olde?"

"Looking for a book," Fred says, gesturing towards the shelf again. "Will you help?"

Willow flicks a finger upwards and the book lands in Fred's arms, almost knocking her over. "No problem," she says. 

"You're awfully... chipper," Fred says, frowning. "Is everything okay?"

Willow nods. "If you ask me, everything's great. If you ask them, well, backsliding and forgetting lessons learned. But I'm absolutely not going to do any flaying. Got that under control at rehab." She forces a laugh.

"Wesley and the Council on your back?"

"How do you know about -- oh yeah. I forgot Wes joined up. But yeah -- yes. They're after me."

"It's been a long time since Wes has been after _me_ ," Fred says, a little mournfully. "They won't use me since my interests have turned theoretical. At most grad schools, it's publish or perish. At Wolfram + Hart, what matters is your body count."

"Ouch. Mine's still at one, hopefully staying there."

"I think I'll abstain," Fred says softly. Then, "Look, thanks for the book. I need it for this project I'm doing..."

Willow finally thinks to glance at the spine. "Oooh, Jerster. Something fauna-y?"

"Yep, a bestiary. I figured it's been ages since Krevt published, and that was before Oxler and Kurta's taxonomic innovations. So I'm taking over where Krevt left off, and figured, where best to start but with Jerster himself? Although the unicorn section..."

"I know!" Willow laughs. "But other than the unicorns, Jerster's probably best... but tell me you've looked at Bell's evolutionary tree. It's _great_. Three-dimensional and everything, and she accounts for time travel! I've got a copy somewhere around here..." She focuses her energy for a minute, and the holographic text appears between them. "Neat, huh?"

Fred pokes at a particular branch that unrolls into a long spiral against her finger. "Oh, it's got little pictures... I could study this for ages... do you mind if I sit for awhile?"

"Sure," Willow says. "It's fine with me. Just don't, you know, let anyone know where I am?"

"I don't think I want to talk to the kind of people who are after you anyhow."

For awhile, Willow works on her riddle book while Fred studies the differences between Welsh and Irish unicorn herds, but after maybe half an hour, Fred pushes her glasses up and says, "I really like this. The scroll, I mean, and also the shop. I'd love to work here... all these books, all the time! It must be like heaven."

"A little draftier," Willow says. "It is pretty neat. I guess I always dreamed of owning a magic shop like Giles, but this is really the best of both worlds. Books and magic all in one place."

"I think this project might take me a little longer than... it's kind of complicated, and I could sure use a library like this -- I mean, a shop, of course, I can pay. I still have Wolfram + Hart salary and stock options, saved up -- if you wanted -- there's that book I meant to show you. Remember?"

"It's funnier in Latin?" Willow asks. "Hey, Fred, you know..."

"What?"

"I'm not seeing anyone anymore."

" _Oh._ Would you like...?"

"I'd very like."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to..."

"I'm not sure the magic won't come out..."

"I'm not sure I should be doing this when..."

"I'm not sure the Watchers' Council would approve of me corrupting you like this..."

"Can you please just be kissing me now?"

Willow gasps and feels something boil in the bottom of her stomach that feels dangerously like wrath. She drives a fingernail so deeply into her left palm that she almost bleeds. She needs to focus on staying calm. After a moment's struggle, she feels the wrath spiral towards the bottom of her being, and she lets it stay there, where it ought to live. Her fingers slide easily into the curls of Fred's hair, and their lips fit together just right, like they've been learning each other forever. There's a time and a place for struggle, but for now, they're going out with the tide.


End file.
